Man retires after 43 years with VA Police Department

Man retires after 43 years with local VA Medical Center

6:44 AM,
Jul. 1, 2013

Gordon Barnhart has retired from after 43 years of service with the local Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Barnhart was one of the first officers in the department, a position he started after his return from the Vietnam War.

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Today is not only the start of a new week for Gordon Barnhart, but the start of a new chapter in the nearly 64-year-old's life. For starters, it's the first time since he was 18 that he hasn't had the duty of wearing a uniform for work.

Better known as Barney - or rather Little Barney when his father William "Big Barney" Barnhart was alive - he's a bit unsure about retiring after 43 years with the Chillicothe Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He looks off to a corner of the room as his eyes overflow with the emotion of leaving behind the place his family jokingly referred to as his first home.